[396. {399.}1 Sabbadāyaka2]
Floating in3 the great ocean, my
palace [then] was very well-made.
There was a pond, [also] well made,
[full of] the cries of ruddy geese,4 (1) [3828]
covered with mandālaka5 blooms
and with pink and blue lotuses.
And a river was flowing there,
beautiful, with excellent banks, (2) [3829]
covered with fish and tortoises,6
with various birds7 spread about,8
noisy with peacocks9 [and] herons,10
[and] the [calls of birds] like cuckoos.11 (3) [3830]
Pigeons12 [and] ravi-swans13 [as well],
ruddy geese14 and nadīccharas,
lapwings15 [and] mynah birds16 are here,
small monkeys,17 jīvajīvakas.18 (4) [3831]
[It] resounds with swans and herons,
owls and many piṅgalas.
The sand contains the seven gems,
[strewn with] jewels [and costly] pearls. (5) [3832]
All of the trees, made out19 of gold,
pervaded by various scents,
are lighting up my palace [there],
by day and night, all of the time. (6) [3833]
Sixty thousand instruments are
being played morning and evening.
Sixteen thousand women [as well]
are waiting on me constantly. (7) [3834]
Happy, with pleasure in [my] heart,
having departed [my] palace,
I worshipped that Greatly Famed One,
Sumedha, Leader of the World. (8) [3835]
Having greeted the Sambuddha,
inviting him [and] Assembly,20
that Wise One21 then agreed [to come],
Sumedha, Leader of the World. (9) [3836]
Having preached the Dhamma to me,22
the Great Sage [later] took his leave.
Having greeted the Sambuddha,
I returned to my palace [then]. (10) [3837]
I summoned [all] the people23 there:
“All of you gather together.
In the first part of the day,
the Buddha will come to the palace.” (11) [3838]
“We dwelling near you24 have received
something that’s well-gotten for us.
We too will do a pūjā for
the Teacher, the Best of Buddhas.” (12) [3839]
After putting up food [and] drink,
I announced that it was the time.
The Leader of the World arrived
with one hundred thousand masters.25 (13) [3840]
I went to meet26 [him] with the five27
musical instruments [sounding].
The Supreme Person28 sat down on
a chair made out of solid gold.29 (14) [3841]
I placed30 a canopy31 above,
which was made out of solid gold;32
Fans are then diffusing [perfumes]33
within the Assembly of monks. (15) [3842]
I regaled the monks’ Assembly
with large amounts of food [and] drink;
I gave individual pairs
of cloth34 to the monks’ Assembly. (16) [3843]
The one whom they called Sumedha,
Object of the World’s Oblations,35
sitting in the monks’ Assembly,
spoke these [six] verses [at that time]: (17) [3844]
“This one who [gave] me food and drink
and fed36 the Assembly with it,
I shall relate details of him;
[all of] you listen to my words: (18) [3845]
For eighteen hundred aeons he
will delight in the world of gods.
A thousand times he’ll be a king,
a king who turns the wheel [of law]. (19) [3846]
In whichever womb he’s reborn,
[whether] it’s human or divine,
a canopy of solid gold
will always37 be carried [for him]. (20) [3847]
In thirty thousand aeons [hence],
arising in Okkāka’s clan,
the one whose name is Gotama
will be the Teacher in the world. (21) [3848]
Worthy heir to that one’s Dhamma,
Dhamma’s legitimate offspring,
knowing well all the defilements,
he’ll reach nirvana, undefiled. (22) [3849]
Sitting in the monks’ Assembly,
he will [then] roar the lion’s roar.38
On [his] pyre an umbrella’s borne;39
beneath it40 he is cremated.” (23) [3850]
Monkhood has been attained by me;
my defilements are [now] burnt up.
In a pavilion or tree-root,
burning heat is not known by me. (24) [3851]
In the thirty thousand aeons
since I gave that gift at that time,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
the fruit of giving everything. (25) [3852]
My defilements are [now] burnt up;
all [new] existence is destroyed.
All defilements are exhausted;
now there will be no more rebirth. (26) [3853]
Being in Best Buddha’s presence
was a very good thing for me.
The three knowledges are attained;
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (27) [3854]
The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
[I have] done what the Buddha taught! (28) [3855]
Thus indeed Venerable Sabbadāyaka Thera spoke these verses.
The legend of Sabbadāyaka Thera is finished.
Apadāna numbers provided in {fancy brackets} correspond to the BJTS edition, which contains more individual poems than does the PTS edition dictating the main numbering of this translation.↩
“Everything Donor.” This same apadāna is repeated below as #{551} (BJTS only), ascribed there to Yasa Thera, with the slight difference that the first verse of the concluding refrain there follows the more typical pattern “Like elephants…”↩
ogayha, “submerged in” “plunged into.” BJTS normalizes this by glossing “in the vicinity of the great ocean,” but I take it more literally, and assume that the protagonist is a supernatural being for whom this is normal.↩
PTS cchakkavākā pakūjitā; BJTS cchakkavākūpakūjitā↩
RD says this is a water-plant, a kind of lotus, referencing J iv.539; vi.47, 279, 564. No BJTS gloss here. BJTS gloss at [324] is “a water-born plant named Mandālā”. At [171] BJTS Sinh. gloss is taḍāgayangen, “from the moss,” following its reading of [170] “well fixed [in the mosses]”. Bot. Dict. taḍāga = sevela. At [4231], [4233], [4313], [6332] the (or a) BJTS gloss is helmällen, heḷmäli = edible white water-lily, Nymphaea Lotus.↩
macchcha-kacchchapa-sañcchhannā↩
reading nānādija° (“various birds”) with BJTS for PTS nānāmiga°. The poem continues by listing types of birds, so the BJTS reading seems preferable, even though the PTS reading is also certainly possible.↩
samotthatā, lit., “strewn about,” “spread out over”↩
mayura°↩
°koñccha°↩
kokilādīhi vagguhi, lit., “and with the lovely [cries] of cuckoos, etc.”↩
parevatā↩
ravihaŋsā↩
cchakkavākā↩
dindibhā, Sinh. gloss kirallu, kiraḷā = red-wattled or yellow-wattled lapwing. PSI dictionary gives “bluejay”↩
sāḷikā, RD: maina (= mynah) birds↩
pampakā, Sinh. gloss huṇapupulō (Sorata = uṇahapuḷuvā), a small, tailless monkey. Its high-pitched cry, which famously (and frighteningly) resembles that of a cobra, is apparently the reason these have been included in the present list of (mostly) birds known for their cries.↩
a type of pheasant↩
reading sabbasovaṇṇamayā with BJTS for PTS sabbe sovaṇṇayā↩
reading sasaṅghaṃ with BJTS for PTS sasissaŋ (“with his students”)↩
reading dhīro with BJTS (and PTS alt.) for PTS vīro (“Hero”)↩
lit., “having done a dhamma-talk for me”↩
parijana (for parijjanaṃ), “the people around there,” “retinue”↩
reading ye vasāma tavantike with BJTS for PTS y ‘esāma tava santike, “we who come into your presence”↩
vasīsatasahassehi, that is, masters of the Teaching, arahants.↩
paccchchuggaman akās’ ahaŋ, lit., “I did a going out to meet [him].” Here BJTS reads paccchchuggamanam akās’ ahaṃ, breaking meter, but in the repetition of this apadāna as #{551}, below, it agrees with the PTS reading paccchchugamam↩
reading pañcchaṅgikehi (“the five types”) with BJTS for PTS sataṅgikehi (“the hundred types”)↩
purisuttamo↩
sabbasovaṇṇaye pīṭhe, lit., “a chair [made] of all gold”. BJTS reads more correctly, but breaking the meter, sabbasovaṇṇamaye pīṭhe↩
lit., “I made” “I did”↩
PTS reads uparichannam, “I made it covered above;” BJTS reads more correctly uparichadanam, “a covering (or canopy) above,” but breaks the meter in order to do so. The intent is clear enough in either case.↩
sabbasovaṇṇayaŋ lit., “[made] of all gold”. BJTS reads more correctly, but breaking the meter, sabbasovaṇṇamayaṃ.↩
reading vījaniyo pavāyanti with BJTS for PTS vījanīyā pavāyanti, “[perfumes] are being diffused by fans”↩
paccchcheka-dussa-yugale↩
lokāhutipaṭiggahaŋ, lit., “Recipient of the Sacrifices of the World”↩
tappayi, lit., “satisfied,” “regaled,” “entertained.” BJTS reads sabbe ime ccha (“and all of these [monks]”) for PTS saṅgham etena↩
lit., “every day”↩
i.e., announce his arahantship↩
i.e., to honor his lofty status↩
lit., “beneath the umbrella”↩